Playing their first ever home game in WIAC Conference Tournament action, the Yellowjackets jumped on UW-River Falls midway through the first half and never let up the rest of the way, taking down the Falcons with an impressive 63-46 win that sends the Yellowjackets into Friday night's WIAC Semifinal against regular season league champion UW-Whitewater.

The victory also improved the Yellowjackets' season mark to 19-7 while the Falcons ended 2012-2013 with a 14-12 overall record.

Neither team was able to gain much of an edge in the early going as the got a free throw and an inside basket from Richell Mehus to take a 3-0 lead 2:40 into the opening half.

The  Yellowjackets came right back, getting a three-point play from Kailee McDonald (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) to even matters 3-3 before a layup from Kristen Nett (Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port), a score from Connie Urmanski (Edgar, Wis./Edgar) and a free throw by Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) propelled UW-Superior into an 8-6 lead with 12:29 left in the first half.

An Urmanski three-pointer with 10:46 upped the Yellowjackets' margin to 13-8 and UW-Superior continued to pull away from there, going on a 9-2 run over the final 5:12 of the opening half to open up a 29-17 lead after a free throw by Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) with 59 seconds left in the frame.

The Falcons attempted to rally early in the second half, cutting the deficit to 29-19 on a long jump shot by Tess Lueders with 19:56 remaining in regulation.

But the Yellowjackets went on to score the next 13 points, getting a three-pointer from Urmanski to start the run while getting additional scores from Linzmeier, Carmen Watson (Milwaukee, Wis./James Madison), Hillary Peterson (Sturgeon Lake, Minn./Moose Lake) and Grace Kennedy (Wausau, Wis./Newman Catholic) along with two free throws by Vavra to take a commanding 42-19 lead with 14:32 left in the second half.

From there, the Falcons never got closer than 19 points the rest of the way as the Yellowjackets held UW-River Falls to just 23.8 percent (15-of-63) shooting for the game, including just 17.2 percent (5-of-29) in the opening half.

Offensively, the Yellowjackets were paced by Urmanski's game-high 16 points.  Linzmeier added 13 points for UW-Superior while Watson finished with 10.

UW-River Falls was led by Brittany Gregorich with 11 points.  Lueders finished with 10 points for the Falcons as well.

Milestone Update: McDonald appeared in her 99th career game and is now ranked third all-time in games played. Peterson played in her 94th career game and is tied for eighth. After scoring her ninth point of the game on a free throw, Linzmeier established a new school record for points in a single season, breaking the previous record of 433 set by Sandy Eilertsen in 1985-86.

Opening tipoff between the Yellowjackets and the Warhawks is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.  The game can be heard locally on 91.3 FM KUWS and also via the internet on the Ifan Sports Network at www.ifan.tv.  Matt Johnson will have the call.